The lakeside road was breezy with the night air. Liu Xinyao strolled leisurely along the lake, the breeze ruffling her hair. Her expression remained as aloof as ever. Chen Yang jogged to catch up, walking alongside her.
Liu Xinyao knew Chen Yang was beside her, but she continued walking straight ahead, her lips tightly pressed together, silent, as if Chen Yang were invisible.
Chen Yang remained silent, slowly walking towards the school. He vaguely guessed why Liu Xinyao had left; she must have seen Ning Qiaoqian being intimate with him and was indignant on Su He's behalf!
What an intolerant girl! Liu Xinyao misunderstood him, and Chen Yang didn't want to explain too much. Strictly speaking, it wasn't even a misunderstanding. Although Chen Yang hadn't had any real relationship with Ning Qiaoqian, according to traditional values, if Su He was his girlfriend, what Chen Yang had done with Ning Qiaoqian already offended Su He.
The key issue was that Chen Yang wasn't a traditional person at all. In his previous life, he was a playboy, not exactly a slut, but certainly not one to engage in casual relationships. Moreover, with both Su He and Ning Qiaoqian, Chen Yang wasn't just playing around. Although he hadn't officially declared his relationship with Su He, he was seriously pursuing a campus romance. As for Ning Qiaoqian, Chen Yang enjoyed their current ambiguous relationship.
In Chen Yang's view, this was perfectly normal, but he couldn't explain anything to Liu Xinyao.
The two walked a few hundred meters before Liu Xinyao suddenly blurted out something seemingly out of the blue:
"I know why you followed me out. Don't worry! I'm not that bored!"
Chen Yang was taken aback, instinctively asking,
"What did you say?"
Liu Xinyao abruptly stopped, her gaze fixed intently on Chen Yang's face, and said with a mocking expression:
"I said you can rest assured, I never gossip, and besides, I'm not familiar with Su He!"
It seems Xiao Die was right; men really are all the same! Liu Xinyao thought to herself.
"I was just worried about your safety walking alone at night, nothing more…" Chen Yang said with a wry smile.
"Is that so?" Liu Xinyao said sarcastically, "Then you don't need to worry about it!"
With that, Liu Xinyao hailed a taxi before Chen Yang could speak, and got in. "Liu..." Chen Yang only got halfway through his sentence before the taxi sped away. The place where Liu Xinyao got in was less than 500 meters from the gate of Rongda University. Taking a taxi for such a short distance clearly showed she didn't want to be with Chen Yang.
Chen Yang smiled bitterly, shaking his head helplessly as he watched the taxi disappear into the distance.
Liu Xinyao's prejudice against him was deepening. He had originally hoped to use her to reconnect with his fiancée from his previous life, Xu Qingya…
Thinking of Xu Qingya, Chen Yang suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He glanced at the date on his watch and couldn't help but take a deep breath.
Chen Yang returned to the bar, his mind heavy with worry. Yang Xiaoxian and her group were having a great time! The bar was already packed. Chen Yang saw Cao Xiao and the others swaying and waving their arms to the DJ's shouts, their faces showing a mixture of excitement and fascination. Yang Xiaoxian was actually playing dice with Chi Yunfei. Chi Yunfei's clumsy performance elicited occasional smug laughter from Yang Xiaoxian. It seemed Chi Yunfei had already lost many rounds, as there were four or five empty bottles in front of him.
Chen Yang didn't disturb them, but went straight to the bar. Ning Qiaoqian, who happened to be free, saw Chen Yang and smiled playfully, saying,
"Oh! Your knight in shining armor is back! You're incredibly fast!"
Chen Yang stared fiercely into Ning Qiaoqian's eyes, his face stern, and asked,
"Sister Qian, were you doing that on purpose?"
"You mean like this?" Ning Qiaoqian leaned out from behind the bar, placing her hands on Chen Yang's shoulders again, her face showing an innocent expression. "Don't we always do this? There are even worse things!"
At this point, Ning Qiaoqian's face inexplicably flushed. Undoubtedly, she was thinking of the romantic encounter they had in the car on the top of Gushan Mountain that day.
"Hmph! Don't play dumb with me!" Chen Yang snorted coldly, clearly annoyed.
"Hey! You brat, how dare you give me that attitude!" Ning Qiaoqian's feigned pitiful expression vanished, replaced by a fierce glint in her eyes. She grabbed Chen Yang's ear and said, "I did it on purpose, so what? I did it for Su He's sake! I noticed the way you were looking at that girl was weird, leering at her!"
"No way!" Chen Yang, his ear being pulled, involuntarily tilted his head and protested, "We're just ordinary classmates!"
"Still trying to be stubborn?" Ning Qiaoqian tightened her grip. "Didn't I see through you just now? If you were really just ordinary classmates, would she be so angry? And what's more! As soon as she left, you chased after her like a puppy, looking at your sycophantic self! Ordinary classmates, my foot! You're kidding me!"
"Okay, okay! Sister Qian, I'm sorry, alright?" Chen Yang cried out in pain, begging for mercy. It's truly a case of "a scholar encountering a soldier—reason is useless," Chen Yang thought, feeling utterly frustrated. Today, he was caught in a bind, like Pigsy looking in the mirror! Liu Xinyao loathed and despised him, and Ning Qiaoqian had even misunderstood him. Chen Yang was truly at a loss for words!
Ning Qiaoqian reluctantly released his hand, gently patting Chen Yang's head as she said,
"If I don't teach you a lesson, you really won't learn, you 'Radish Guy'!"
"What 'Radish Guy'?" Chen Yang asked casually, rubbing his ear.
"A womanizing radish!" Ning Qiaoqian said with a displeased sidelong glance, then turned to tidy up the bartending equipment, ignoring Chen Yang completely.
Chen Yang shrugged and went to the lounge area to chat with Zhou Weiqiang.
In his previous life, Chen Yang had always been surrounded by beautiful women, but he had never encountered such a frustrating situation. What made Chen Yang even more aggrieved was that he hadn't done anything at all! Even with Su He, neither side had yet crossed that line!
However, Chen Yang's rich experience from his past life told him that explaining these things would only make things more complicated. The best approach was to let things cool down. It wasn't some heinous crime, and Chen Yang was confident that Ning Qiaoqian would calm down before the end of the workday.
"Hey, Qiang-ge, why haven't you invited 'The Wanderers' to perform lately?" Chen Yang asked casually, noticing another band performing energetically but receiving little attention. Zhou Weiqiang took a drag of his cigarette and said casually,
"They disbanded..."
"Disbanded!" Chen Yang was also surprised to hear this. "How could such a good band disband? They were quite popular in Rongcheng nightclubs, they shouldn't be struggling to make ends meet!"
"Their lead singer, Xue Chen, was in a car accident and is now disabled!" Zhou Weiqiang glanced warily at Ning Qiaoqian not far away and said meaningfully, "By the way, it was the night Deng Qing came to cause trouble at the bar. Xue Chen was hit by a car on his way home, and both his legs are ruined!"
Chen Yang suddenly realized that Deng Qing was someone Xue Chen had hired. Given A Cheng and his gang's ruthlessness, it was a miracle that Xue Chen had survived.
Around 11 p.m., Yang Xiaoxian and the others finally got tired of partying and packed up to leave. Chen Yang had already paid the bill and said goodbye to Zhou Weiqiang, so the classmates left the bar together. Before leaving, Chen Yang made sure to return the Land Rover keys to Ning Qiaoqian. The car was parked right outside the bar, so it was essentially a return of the car.
Chi Yunfei and Yang Xiaoxian seemed to be getting along well. The usually taciturn Chi Yunfei, under the influence of alcohol, became quite talkative. On the way back to school, the two chatted incessantly, seemingly having a very pleasant conversation. Chen Yang was completely baffled. How could Chi Yunfei be attracted to a tomboy like Yang Xiaoxian? And how could Yang Xiaoxian chat so happily with such a reserved guy like Chi Yunfei?
Could they really be a match made in heaven?
Thus, except for Liu Xinyao leaving early, the first joint event between the two dormitories came to a successful end. Everyone parted on a whim, especially Chi Yunfei, who probably hadn't talked as much in all three years of university as he had today. Back in his dorm, he was still grinning from ear to ear, lost in thought.
That night, however, Chen Yang tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep for a long time. Of course, everything that happened today was just a minor incident; his insomnia was solely due to one person—Xu Qingya.
Yesterday, outside the bar, when Chen Yang was seeing Liu Xinyao off, he suddenly realized that Xu Qingya was coming.
In his previous life, on June 13, 2010, Xu Qingya was transferred from the Beijing Garrison Command to the meteorological station at the Air Force Rongcheng Air Base as an engineer. This was an arrangement by both families, facilitating interaction between Chen Yang and Xu Qingya, who were already engaged. Before this, although both came from wealthy families, they had never met.
If history hadn't changed, Xu Qingya would arrive in Rongcheng tomorrow afternoon on flight CA1885. Three years later, Chen Yang still remembered the flight number and that warm spring afternoon when, upon seeing Xu Qingya, it seemed as if the surrounding flowers paled in comparison.
After his rebirth, Xu Qingya was the first person who made Chen Yang feel such anxiety and uncertainty.
The next morning, despite having dark circles under his eyes from a sleepless night, Chen Yang still got up on time and went to his usual training spot. His basic physical fitness was steadily increasing, and his combat skills training was gradually becoming more systematic. In the world before his rebirth, the Fang family had specially hired the chief instructor of the Central Security Bureau to train Chen Yang, which was also his favorite among the various subjects—the spoiled brat's genes for bravery and violence would never disappear.
The afternoon was scheduled for a basic course, *Introduction to Law*, which Chen Yang skipped without hesitation. With a mix of trepidation and excitement, Chen Yang boarded the bus to the airport.
Rongcheng's airport was quite remote, located on the coast of Yongle County in the suburbs, a journey of over an hour each way. Therefore, after lunch, Chen Yang arrived early at the Apollo Hotel to catch the airport bus.
In the airport terminal, when the announcement came over the loudspeaker that CA1885, a flight from Beijing, had arrived, Chen Yang, who was absentmindedly flipping through a magazine in the Yipin Bookstore, couldn't help but tremble. He felt his heart begin to race, a rare occurrence; during his first piloting experience, his heartbeat had been remarkably steady.
From the announcement of the plane's arrival to passenger disembarkation, there were at least ten minutes, and even longer if there was checked baggage. However, Chen Yang couldn't contain his excitement. He put down the magazine, hurried to the domestic arrivals gate, and stood on tiptoe, peering into the escalators through the glass doors.
Chen Yang's position was opposite the passenger exit passage. This way, he could clearly see everyone passing by without being noticed by the exiting passengers—although Chen Yang was certain that Xu Qingya didn't recognize him in this life, he still felt a little uneasy.
Twenty minutes later, passengers from CA1885 began to emerge from the exit passage. Suddenly, Chen Yang's vision blurred, and a patch of sky blue unexpectedly came into view…